Cop Car Crushed by Crane as Officer Steps Out

A police car was crushed Wednesday night near the World Trade Bridge construction site when a cable snapped and dropped a 50-foot steel pillar on it. Officer Luis Dovalina was working off-duty directing traffic on Interstate 35 near the construction site of the new international bridge. He had just parked his car and had stepped out to give directions to a crane operator.

According to the police report, within five minutes of his leaving the car, a cable holding a 50-foot rebar pillar (a construction skeleton for concrete) came crashing down. Dovalina turned around just in time to watch the car get crushed. No injuries were reported.

“It was a freak accident,” said Assistant Chief Eliodoro Granados, commenting that the off-duty Dovalina was using a police car specifically because it was a high-risk area with very heavy traffic. Neither Dovalina nor the members of the construction team working at the time were available for comment. It is unknown from what height or from what structure the steel pillar fell.